Vermicelli Salad with Nuoc Cham

A month ago, we visited Kev's parents and they asked us if we wanted chicken. I guess it was on sale and they stocked up their freezer. We didn't see them pack it int he cooler, so we only found out how much they gave us when we got home and unpacked. Our freezer was packed with chicken. So for the last couple of weeks, we've been having a lot of chicken. I had some left over roast chicken in the fridge and I didn't know what to do with it. We're having a heatwave here, and I didn't feel like slaving in the kitchen. I poked around the fridge and found carrots, cucumbers, and coriander. I also had some crushed peanuts. Perfect. I'll make Vietnamese vermicelli salad. Not quite sure it's authentic Vietnamese, because I got the recipe from Canadian Living magazine. But this was really good, and very fresh for a hot summer night.


1 package of thin vermicelli noodles
crushed unsalted peanuts
coriander, chopped
carrots, shredded or julienned
cucumbers, sliced or julienned
cooked chicken, shredded

For Nuoc Cham:
2 tbsp sugar
finely shredded carrots (I used my zester)
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
2tsp white vinegar
crushed red peppers

1. Cook noodles following package instructions.
2. Meanwhile, whisk sugar with 1/2 cup warm water until dissolved. Stir in shredded carrots, fish sauce, lime juice, vinegar, and chili pepper. Set aside.
3. Assemble dish. Vermicelli, carrots, cucumber slices, coriander, peanuts, cold shredded chicken. Serve with sauce on top.

Teriyaki Chicken Wings

Last summer, Kev's aunt invited us to stay at their timeshare condo in Mt-Tremblant for a weekend. We mostly relaxed and walked around the Tremblant village, and later had a nice BBQ back at the condo. Kev's aunt made some tasty chicken wings, which I later asked for the recipe. Whenever Kev likes a recipe a lot, I try to make it at home for him. He's not always very enthusiatic about the recipes i pick. Kev's aunt says I spoil him. Maybe...but who else would i spoil?




Chicken wings

½ cup soya sauce
½ cup OJ
¼ packed brown sugar
1 clove garlic minced
1 tsp pepper

1. Mix all the ingredients together and marinate chicken wings overnight.
2. Grill on BBQ or bake in the oven at 375F for 20 min.

I baked them because we were just too lazy to turn on the BBQ. They definitely did not taste as good as from the grill, but good enough.

Chinese Five Spice poultry

Five-spice powder is a mixture of five spices used in Chinese cuisine. One common recipe includes tunghing or "Chinese cinnamon" (also known as rougui, the ground bark of the cassia tree, a close relative of true cinnamon), powdered cassia buds, powdered star anise and anise seed, ginger root, and ground cloves. Another recipe for the powder consists of huajiao (Sichuan pepper), bajiao (star anise), rougui (cassia), cloves, and fennel seeds. It is used in most recipes for Cantonese roasted duck, as well as beef stew. Source: Wikipedia

I've seen several recipes requiring five spice, but never bothered to make those recipes because I didn't have five spice in my pantry. I finally decided to buy it when my friend, Amy, was raving about her friends five spice chicken recipe. We had recently bought a whole duck and I decided to try the recipe with duck instead of chicken. The aroma of the roasting duck was very good. It was my first time making a whole duck, so i wasn't quite prepared to carve it.

My carving skills are pathetic. I was hacking every knife we had in the kitchen into the duck. It was not pretty. The duck was alright, but i think because of the thick fatty skin, the flavors did not get into the meat, even though i poked the duck numerous times with a fork.

About a week later, I decided to give the recipe another shot with chicken drumsticks. Better!

Marinade:
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp five-spice
1 tbsp oil
3 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp soy sauce

1. 1 hour before cook time or the night before, mix marinade together, be sure to stir until all the sugar is dissolved.
2. Put the marinade into the ziplock, or into a baking dish and put the chicken in with it. Toss around the chicken to coat it in marinade. Put the whole dish (or ziplock bag) into the fridge for 1 hour. Don't cut corners on the time.
3. 10 minutes before you are ready to cook, preheat oven to 375 degrees
4. Bake chicken until browned and juices run clear.

Puff Pastry Triangles

It was a lazy Sunday when I didn't know what to make for lunch. Kevin had some leftovers to eat and I didn't want to eat instant noodles again. I love instant noodles, but two days straight was a bit much. I'm not a student anymore. So I poked around the freezer and fridge and found a lot of leftovers; half a pack of puff pastry, leftover steak stir-fry, a few mushrooms, some cheese (cheddar, mozza, and feta). So I decided...why not have a meal of hors d'oeuvres. I've had more than my fair share of hors d'oeuvres at wedding cocktails before.

• Puff pastry (defrosted)
• cheese
• leftover steak or chicken cut into bite size strips
• mushroom

1. Preheat oven 400F
2. Cut puff pastry sheet into 9 squares, more if you want your hors d'oeuvres smaller.
3. Place meat, cheese, mushroom in the center
4. Fold the square diagonally and press on the edges. You can use an egg wash on the edge if you want to.
5. Bake until golden brown.

This is fool proof, unless you leave it in the oven and burn it to a crisp. You can mix up ingredients any way you want it. I actually had some chicken and dill as well. I ended up like the mushroom, mozza, and dill combo a lot. I also loved how crispy burned cheese that oozed out of the pastry. Yums!!! The options are endless.

Bourbon Chicken (without Bourbon)

Bourbon chicken is a flavorful chicken dish named after Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana and for the Bourbon whiskey ingredient.

In university, a classmate and I did a project on New Orleans culture, but we never ventured into the culinary side...but we so should have. Bourbon chicken is awesome. Although I have never had authentic Bourbon chicken, I fell in love with the dish when I visited my friend Jenn in Ottawa a couple of years ago. I have to admit, it was just a fast food counter that sells bourbon chicken, but it was dang good chicken! After that time, I craved it, but didn't have it for many years, until last month!

Kev and I were visiting his parents for a weekend and on our way to the in-laws, we had to stop by the mall and I was hungry. The counter was still there. So I went to buy, while Kev went to Tim Hortons for a very expensive mediocre chicken salad sandwich. I mean really...he should have just followed me. Follow me and you will find good food. I gave him a taste and he quickly regretted not buying it. He then proceeded to "help" me finish my plate.

I found a recipe for bourbon chicken and it sounded super easy, my only problem was I didn't have the essential ingredient for bourbon chicken; I didn't have bourbon whiskey. So, I had to sub with white wine, which didn't quite cut it. But here's the recipe if you want to try it.

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 ounces soy sauce
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/8 cup bourbon
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Place chicken breasts in a 9x13 inch baking dish. In a small bowl combine the ginger, soy sauce, onion flakes, sugar, bourbon and garlic powder. Mix together and pour mixture over chicken. Cover dish and place in refrigerator. Marinate overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
3. Remove dish from refrigerator and remove cover. Bake in the preheated oven, basting frequently, for 1 1/2 hours or until chicken is well browned and juices run clear.

Chicken with Mango Salad

Kevin and I are going through a mango phase. I blame this on his uncle John in T.O. When we visited them over easter break, he gave us a couple fo mangoes. These mangoes were not ripe yet. The week after we visited them, we went on vacation in Punta Cana. When we got back, the mangoes were just perfect. And that got us hooked on mangoes. So we kept buying mangoes at the grocery store.

When they went on sale, I bought too many and they were going bad, so I had to look for a recipe to use it up. This recipe was originally for tilapia, but I used chicken.

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 chicken breasts butterflied.

1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 tablespoons minced red onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

1. Whisk together the extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, parsley, garlic, basil, 1 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl and pour into a resealable plastic bag. Add the tilapia fillets, coat with the marinade, squeeze out excess air, and seal the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Prepare the mango salsa by combining the mango, red bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper in a bowl. Add the lime juice and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and toss well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. On the grill: Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil grate.
   Remove the chicken from the marinade, and shake off excess. Discard the remaining marinade. Grill the chicken until cooked. Serve the chicken topped with mango salsa.
4. In the oven: Preheat to 400F. Bake until cooked, about 20-25 minutes depending on thickness. Serve with Mango Salsa.

The mango salsa is what makes this dish. I loved it so much that I made the salsa on its own a few days later. The chicken was not great, but kevin said that the blend of herbs tasted like pesto.

Curried Honey Dijon Wings

This is a recycled recipe. So i'm cheating on having this "new" blog post. I made curried honey dijon chicken drumsticks back in december 2008. I remember enjoying this recipe quite a bit and have wanted to use the same recipe on chicken wings. I finally got around to doing it. And I figured that a marinade this good deserves a double post.

1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 tablespoons soy sauce
cayenne pepper to taste (or some other form of heat)
pepper to taste
Chicken wings


1. Mix everything but the chicken in a bowl.
2. Add the chicken, cover and marinate in the fridge for at least an hour. (I did it for nearly 6 hours)
3. Place the chicken in a baking dish (reserving the marinade)
4. Bake uncovered in a 375F oven for 20 minutes.
5. Brush on some of the marinade.
6. Bake uncovered until the juices run clear, about 20-30 minutes, brushing with the marinade periodically.

(This would also be great cooked on the grill, but watch it carefully as the honey will make it burn much faster.)

Chicken Piccata

I love chicken, but I always found chicken breasts to be difficult to work with because it get dry. While surfing several food blogs for chicken recipes, i found a couple of them had featured Chicken Piccata. I've never heard of this dish before. Chicken Piccata is a classic Italian dish that is supposed to be nearly foolproof. The chicken breast are sliced (butterflied) and flattened for faster cooking. This prevents from under cooking, as well as over cooking, because once the chicken is browned, it's done. My problem, this time, wasn't with the chicken, but with the sauce. I found it to be too sour. I started adding some sugar to the sauce, but a huge clumps fell out and i had to scoop the sugar out of the sauce. It was a bit of a disaster, but in the end, Kevin said he liked the sauce and I wasn't too impressed with it.

2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 pound total)
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup flour
Salt and pepper
4 Tbsp olive oil
4 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup chicken stock or dry white wine
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup brined capers
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

1. Cut the chicken breast halves horizontally, butterflying them open. If the breast pieces you are working with are large, you may want to cut them each into two pieces. If the pieces are still thick after butterflying, put them between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound them with a meat hammer to 1/4-inch thickness.
2. Mix together the flour, salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan. Rinse the chicken pieces in water. Dredge them thoroughly in the flour mixture, until well coated.
3. Heat olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add half of the chicken pieces, do not crowd the pan. Brown well on each side, about 3 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the pan and reserve to a plate. Cook the other breasts in the same manner, remove from pan. Cover with aluminum foil and keep warm in the oven while you prepare the sauce.
4. Add the chicken stock (or white wine), lemon juice, and capers to the pan. Use a spatula to scrape up the browned bits. Reduce the sauce by half. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Plate the chicken and serve with the sauce poured over the chicken. Sprinkle with parsley.
   

Adobo Chicken

In Filipino cuisine, adobo refers to a common and very popular cooking process indigenous to the Philippines. When Spanish colonizers first took administration over the Philippines in the late 1500s and early 1600s, they encountered an indigenous cooking process which involved stewing with vinegar, which they then referred to as "adobo," which is the Spanish word for seasoning or marinade. Dishes prepared in this manner eventually came to be known by this name, with the original term for the dish now lost to history. Typically, pork or chicken, or a combination of both, is slowly cooked in soy sauce, vinegar, crushed garlic, bay leaf, and black peppercorns, and often browned in the oven or pan-fried afterward to get the desirable crisped edges. This dish originates from the northern region of the Philippines. It is commonly packed for Filipino mountaineers and travelers. Its relatively long shelf-life is due to one of its primary ingredients, vinegar, which inhibits the growth of bacteria. The standard accompaniment to adobo is white rice. (source: wikipedia.com)


I first learned about Adobo Chicken through my friend Amy. For my first Vday with Kev, we decided to eat at home since it was a wednesday night (Lost night). I was looking for something new to make. Back then, I hadn't discovered my love for cooking. I talked to Amy and she suggested Adobo chicken and I decided to try it. I remember thinking that the adobo chicken was too salty and didn't like it that much. Perhaps it's the brand of soy sauce I used. I had kikkoman...


Now, 2 years later, I decided to revisit the recipe. I found an adobo chicken recipe in one of the my giant recipe books. It was slightly different from Amy's recipe, but I decided to combine the two recipes. Amy's recipe had more spices, while the recipe in the book had a milder sauce because they diluted the soy sauce with water.




8 chicken drumsticks
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white or rice vinegar
1 cup water
1 Tbs chopped garlic
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp crushed peppercorn, or ground black pepper

1. Combine everything, except chicken in a large pot (large enough to hold the chicken in one layer). Bring to boil over high heat. Add chicken; reduce heat to medium-low and cook covered for 30 min, turning once or twice.
2. Boil uncovered for another 15 minutes. Serve with white rice.

Source: How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

The end result was still a tad salty for my liking. I even added sugar to balance out the taste, but just couldn't fix it anymore. I guess I will accept this defeat and just accept that adobo chicken is just not for us. I tried. In Mark Bittman's recipe, after step one, he dried off the chicken and grilled them on the barbecue. We did not do this. Perhaps this was how it was supposed to be served.

Sweet & Sour Pineapple Chicken

When I was younger, sweet & sour anything on rice or noodles was the best. I'm not quite sure just how Chinese Sweet & Sour sauce is, but according to wikipedia, the sauce originates from Hunan. However, it is usually used as a dipping sauce. Although sweet & sour stir-fry was one of the best meals of my childhood, I rarely crave it now. A while ago, I found myself stuck with a can of pineapple chunks in the fridge, because I only needed the pineapple juice/syrup for another recipe. Being Chinese, nothing goes to waste. So I googled for a pineaple recipe and found this Sweet & Sour Pineapple Chicken recipe.




1 lb (500 g) boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes
1 egg white
2 tbsp (25 mL) each cornstarch and all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp (1 mL) each salt and white or black pepper
1/3 cup (75 mL) vegetable oil
1/3 cup (75 mL) sodium-reduced chicken broth
3 tbsp (45 mL) ketchup
1 tbsp (15 mL) sodium-reduced soy sauce and rice vinegar
2 tsp (10 mL) minced gingerroot
1 tsp (5 mL) granulated sugar
1 each onion and sweet red and green pepper, cut into 3/4-inch (2 cm) cubes
1 cup (250 mL) drained canned pineapple chunks

1. In bowl, combine chicken, egg white, cornstarch, flour, salt and pepper; let stand for 10 minutes.


2. In wok or large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; stir-fry chicken, in batches and reserving cornstarch mixture in bowl, for 3 minutes or until golden-brown.


3. Transfer to plate. Add broth, 1/3 cup (75 mL) water, ketchup, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger and sugar to reserved cornstarch; whisk to combine. Set aside.


4. Discard all but 1 tbsp (15 mL) oil from wok. Stir-fry onion and red and green peppers for about 3 minutes or until tender-crisp.


5. Add chicken, pineapple and stock mixture to wok; stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until thickened and chicken is coated.

Source Canadian Living Magazine: May 2008

The recipe was alright...nothing spectacular. The sauce smelled, looked, and tasted like sweet & sour sauce from a jar, so I guess it's a success enough. I tried to be cheap on oil, because I don't like using too much oil when I cook. I figured I had a non-stick skillet, so it wouldn't matter. I failed to recognize that I need to have oil because the chicken is covered in a four/egg mixture...The first minute of cooking with very little oil was a disaster...the flour would smear on the skillet and burn. So I finally added a bit more oil and stir-fried it. They didn't come out too oily. And the chicken breast were juicy...surprisingly. Perhaps the method of cooking the chicken with a flour coating creates a barrier for the chicken to not dry out. Am i making sense?

Chipotle Honey-Glazed Chicken Wings

I love chicken wings! But I know how bad they are for you due to the fatty skin. Some of my favorite chicken wings are my mom's. She makes this black bean chicken wing that is delicious. My sister and I would almost have a contest on who could eat more of it. I credit chicken wings for my boobs. LOL When I lived on my own, I went to costco with my family and bought a 1kg of BBQ chicken wings. It took me forever to finish it. The craving for them just wasn;t there anymore, because I didn't have the competition for them (my sister). Rachelle is a vegetarian. So the bag of wings were in the freezer for a few months. Also at one point, chicken wings were on sale at the grocery store and Kev and I bought so many boxes. And we are so sick of them now. I never bothered to make my own chicken wings until these last few weeks.

I found this recipe through Serious Eats. I originally wanted to make the Vietnamese chicken wing recipe they had there, but didn't have most of the things it asked for or didn't have anything that could substitute the missing ingredients. So I settled with the Chipotle Honey-Glazed Chicken Wings recipe. The original recipe is supposed to be adapted from Bobby Flay's Grill It! (don't ask, I don't know who he is. I don't even have the Food network). I didn't have all the ingredients, but substituted with stuff I thought would be okay.

• 1 cup honey
• 2 to 3 tablespoons pureed canned chipotle chiles in adobo
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 4 tablespoons ancho chile powder (subbed with regular chili powder)
• Kosher
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons Spanish paprika (just used regular paprika)
• 3 pounds chicken wings
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
• 3 green onions, white and green parts, thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Whisk together the honey, chipotle puree, 1 tablespoon of the mustard, 1 tablespoon of the ancho powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons of the oil in a small bowl. Divide the glaze evenly between 2 bowls, one small, the other large.
3. Stir together the remaining 3 tablespoons of ancho powder with the coriander, cumin, and paprika in a small bowl.
4. Rinse the chicken wings under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Cut the tips off the wings and discard (or freeze and use for making chicken stock). Cut each wing into 2 pieces through the joint.
5. Place the chicken wings in a large bowl, add the spice rub and the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper and place the wings on the baking sheet.
6. Bake until golden brown and slightly charred, 30 to 35 minutes. Occasionally brush the wings with the small bowl of glaze and turn once during the last 10 minutes of cooking.
7. Transfer the wings to the large bowl, brush with the reserved glaze, and toss to coat. Transfer to a platter and sprinkle with the sesame seeds and green onions
   

These were good, but not amazing. I haven't made any chicken wings that have wowed me yet. I find that often, the flavors just don't get into the meat...it's just coated on it.

Garlic Chicken with White Wine Sauce

"I want the bone" as Kevin's 10 year old cousin would exclaim when chicken was being served. I'm the same way. I love chicken legs. I'm always looking for yummy chicken recipes. If it were up to me, chicken would be the only meat i'd buy. But since Kev likes beef, I have to to have at least one recipe with beef per week. I came accross this recipe because of Rachelle. She likes to use Simply Recipes as a recipe site. While browsing through the chicken recipes, this garlic white wine chicken recipe caught my eye. Since I had a bottle of dry white wine in the fridge, i decided give this a try. The original recipe used a whole chicken cut-up in 8 pieces. Since I didn't want to go through the trouble to hacking a knife into a whole chicken, I bought drumsticks.

1 4-pound whole chicken, cut into eight parts or 8 drumsticks
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-3 whole heads of garlic, cloves separated (40 cloves) but not peeled
Olive oil
1 1/4 cup dry white wine
3 large sprigs of fresh tarragon
3 large sprigs of fresh thyme

1. Lightly smash the garlic cloves with the side of a heavy chef's knife, just enough to break the cloves. Leave peel on.
2. Trim the chicken pieces of excess fat. Pat them dry and sprinkle pieces generously with salt and pepper. Heat 3 Tbsp olive oil in a Dutch oven (or a large thick-bottom pan with a tight fitting cover) on medium high. Working in batches, brown the chicken pieces on all sides. Lay the chicken pieces on the hot oil, do not move until browned, then turn over to other side using tongs. Remove from pan when browned.
3. Add a little more olive oil to the pan if necessary. Add the garlic and sauté until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Add the wine and the herbs. Bring to a boil. Add the chicken pieces. Reduce the heat to medium low. Cover the pan and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. Move the chicken pieces from top to bottom every 5 minutes for about 20 minutes. Chicken is done when a meat thermometer inserted into thickest part reads 180°F for thighs and 170°F for breasts.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer chicken pieces to a platter; spoon garlic sauce over the chicken.

When the recipe says "sprinkle pieces (of chicken) generously with salt and pepper", it true, but be less generous with the salt. I think I got a bit carried away with the salt. But it was still ok. I wasn't too keen on the browning step because the residue pepper, salt, and chicken skin fat on the skillet would burn in between batches, which cause burning on the skillet and smoke in the kitchen. However I believe this step to be important, as it gives the chicken a nice tasty colour. I didn't have tarragon and I used 1 tsp of dried thyme instead of fresh. The dish came out good, but not fantastic. I did love the garlic. I ate it with the chicken. I even kept some of the leftover garlic in the fridge to be used on french baguette. Delicious.

Baked Tandoori Chicken

I recently found a recipe for tandoori drumsticks while leafing through on of my giant cookbooks. And since the recipe called for only 5 ingredients (one of which is just salad), i thought it would be great. Kevin and I both like Indian food, but i've never made tandoori chicken. I had a bit of a dilemma, because it's the middle of winter and our BBQ grill outside is buried under a lot of snow. So I had to compromise and bake the chicken instead.

Chicken Drumsticks

2/3 cup (150ml) Plain Yogurt

3 tbsp tandoori paste

freshly squeezed juice from 1 lemon

1. Preheat oven to 400. Use knife to make deep cuts all over drumsticks
2. Mix yogurt, tandoori paste, and lemon juice in a large bowl
3. coat drumsticks with the mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour
4. Bake in oven until cooked or juices run clear.

Dilemma numéro deux: as mentioned before, the 5th ingredient in the recipe was 2 cups of arugula lettuce. For some reason, I misread it to be 2 cup of plain yogurt. When I realized my mistake (from the pale colour of my sauce), I had already mixed in the 3 tbs of tandoori, so i could salvage the plain yogurt. So what I ended up doing was adding more tandoori paste...but dilemma numéro trois, I was runnign out of tandoori paste. So I just put in whatever was left and just prayed the tandoori drumsticks wouldn't be too bad. The chicken ended up being oh-kay. Good, but not memorable. I might make this again when we can use the grill. Since I baked it, it came out more saucy. Real tandoori shouldn't be.

Maple-Balsamic Chicken

The idea to make chicken with balsamic vinegar came from my friend Amy. She had recently made Balsamic Honey Chicken Wings (post will come when I make it). I didn't have any balsamic vinegar in my pantry, so I went to the grocery store to get some. When I got there, I had the balsamic vinegar in my hand, but the bottle of Maple Balsamic caught my eye. So i grabbed that instead...When i got home, I wondered if i could make the chicken wings with maple balsamic, but then decided not to mess with Amy's recipe and look for someone else's recipe to mess with. I found a Maple Balsamic Chicken recipe, but I had to tweak it. The original recipe asked for the balsamic vinegar and maple syrup, not maple balsamic vinegar, but decided to try it out anyway. Here's what i did:



2 chicken breasts bone-in, skinless
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 can chicken broth
1/3 cup maple balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
sugar for sauces, optional

1. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt, paprika, and thyme.
2. Cook chicken in hot oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Stir in chicken broth and maple balsamic vinegar and ground pepper, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes. Remove chicken to a serving platter, and keep warm. Reserve liquid in skillet.
3. Whisk peanut butter into reserved liquid, and boil over medium-high heat, uncovered, 5 minutes or until sauce is thickened; spoon sauce evenly over chicken. Taste the sauce, if it's too balsamic vinegar-ey, add a bit of sugar to balance it out.

I'm not a huge fan of chicken breast. They're often too dry. I prefer the leg. But simmering it in the chicken broth gave it some juice. I also divided the reserved liquid. I did one half with the peanut butter, and the other without. I know Kev is not crazy about peanut butter, so I had two sauces for the chicken. Since I didn't use pure maple syrup, as required by the original recipe, my sauce was more salty-sour, so I had to mix in some sugar into the reserve sauces. Kevin seemed to be ok with my experimental chicken. He didn't say it tasted weird. lol After tasting both sauces, I decided I liked the non peanut butter kind.

Curried Honey Dijon Roasted Chicken

I can't remember how I discovered Closet Cooking, but one of the recipes that intrigued me a lot was the Curried Honey Dijon Roasted Chicken that the blogger discovered on another blog. His food porn picture of this recipe looked absolutely delicious. Not knowing if Kevin would like this, I hesitated for a month about this recipe. Kev is not a big fan of sauces and condiments, besides Ketchup. I think he's just way too safe. So sometimes i'll be brave and make him try all these new recipes that I discover through the beautiful world of food blogging. I also hesitated, because I don't like Dijon. I don't mind mustard and I love honey mustard and sometimes even honey Dijon if the dijon isn't too overpowering. And then the odd addition of curry made me wonder if I should skip that step in the recipe, but decided to try it. I used a mix of Closet Cooking's measurements and the original recipes measurements.






1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 tablespoons soy sauce
cayenne pepper to taste (or some other form of heat)
pepper to taste
10 chicken thighs (with bone and skin)


1. Mix everything but the chicken in a bowl.
2. Add the chicken, cover and marinate in the fridge for at least an hour. (I did it for nearly 6 hours)
3. Place the chicken in a baking dish (reserving the marinade)
4. Bake uncovered in a 375F oven for 20 minutes.
5. Brush on some of the marinade.
6. Bake uncovered until the juices run clear, about 20-30 minutes, brushing with the marinade periodically.



If you are afraid that the chicken will burn, please cover the chicken with foil for the first 20 min of baking. Closet Cooking and orginal recipe recommended this, but I didn't cover it and it didn't burn, just golden. But some ovens run higher. So be aware of this. You can also use chicken breast for this recipe, but like closet cooking, I think chicken legs are not as dry. The results were great. I think we both enjoyed. I served it with boiled vegetables and white rice. The recipe was supposed to use equal amounts of honey and dijon, but I didn't want to taste the dijon too much, so I used more honey. I also did not use as much curry as Closet Cooking (he used 1 Tbsp), instead I followed the original blogger and use 1 tsp. You can taste the curry, but it's not overbearing. I think this would make delicious chicken wings as well.


Kevin comments:
"Smells spicy" (referring to curry) while I was preparing the marinade.
"This is something different!" when he sat down at the table
"I like." while eating it.

Chunky Cream of Potato Soup

I'm carb queen. I'm pretty sure that if I gave up carbs, i'd lose a lot of weight, however, I just love carbs too much...One of the ultimate comfort foods for me is a nice bowl of potato soup. It's just sinful. One of my favorite places to have potato soup is at Baton Rouge. Last week, when Kev and I were trying to decide what to have for supper, I had suggested a soup dinner. Kev was hesitant because he was afraid it wouldn't be filling. Potato soup is extrememly filling. I just had this for lunch in a tupperware of about 2 cups of soup and i'm about to fall into a coma. I can hardly eat the celery sticks i brought in. Finally, that night, we didn't have soup dinner. we had steak. So the other night I decided to make it while he had his leftover char siu from Chinatown. I found the original recipe online, but tweeked it a little. This is the first time i've made my own potato soup.

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 cup of water
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 small carrot, chopped
2 garlic bulbs
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons butter, cubed
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk/half & half/ cream
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley/ dried parsley
3/4 teaspoon salt (more if needed)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
dash of garlic powder
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese / cheddar
bacon bits (optional)

1. In a large saucepan, combine the potatoes, onion, carrot, celery and broth + water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until vegetables are tender; lightly mash.
2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter; stir in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir into potato mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add parsley, thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Remove from the heat; stir in cheese until melted. Add bacon optional.

When I made the recipe, I only had one can of chicken broth in the pantry. It's about a bit over a cup of liquids. So I topped the required 1 1/2 cup of chicken broth with water, but the liquids hardly covered the vegetables that need to be tender enough to mash. So I added an extra cup and half. Knowing this would make the soup more bland, I had to add more salt. At this point, it's taste over health. I'll try a healthier version of this soup on my second try. I added dried thyme to the recipe for more taste and a dash of garlic powder. I also chopped some garlic and probably added more celery than needed. The result was absolutely delicious. I had co-wrokers try my soup and one said it's restaurant quality and another said i should open my own restaurant. LOL I'll call it Carb City. LOL

Butter Chicken

I love butter chicken! I still remember the first time I had butter chicken. I was in Toronto with my sister and we visited our cousin Julie. She took us to this little Indian buffet close to her place. When she asked if i've ever had butter chicken, I imagined chicken basted in a pool of butter...it didn't sound appetizing. When I had it...it was love!

I am unsure just how authentic butter chicken is to indian cuisine. I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me that butter chicken had western influence in its creation. And every time i order butter chicken at an Indian restaurant, I can't help but wonder if the Indian staff is scoffing at me and think that i don't really appreciate authentic Indian cuisine. But i'll admit...other than butter chicken, samosa, and curry...i don't know much about Indian cuisine. All I know is...my palate loves it.

Up until last night, I've only had butter chicken at restaurants or coming from a jar. On this note, the President's choice butter chicken sauce is really good. It's great if you want butter chicken quickly. So, last night, I decided to give making butter chicken from scratch a try. I combined two recipes. One I found online, and another I photocopied from a recipe book.

• 1tbsp (15ml) vegetable oil
• 1 lb (500g) boneless, skinless chicken, cut into bite-size portions
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp (15ml) ginger, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp (30ml) butter
• 2 tsp (10ml) lemon juice
• 1 tsp (5ml) of each: cumin and garam masala
• 1/4 tsp (1ml) of cayenne pepper
• 1 cup (250ml) tomato sauce
• 1 cup (250ml) Evaporated Milk
• 1/4 (50ml) plain yogurt
• salt and pepper to taste
• Tandoori masala paste

1. Marinate the chicken with the Tandoori masala paste for at least 2 hrs. Preheat oven 375 degrees and bake chicken cubes on a baking sheet for about 12-15 min, or until juices run clear. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Sauté onions, garlic, and ginger until soft and fragrant. Stir in butter, lemon juice, garam masala, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Add tomato sauce and cook for 2 minutes, storring frequently. Stir in milk and yogurt. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often.
3. Add chicken to sauce and bring dauce to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes until sauce had thickened.
4. Serve with Naan or over steamed rice.

I really only realize now, from writing out the recipe, that i almost didn't follow the measurement at all. For starters, I used the whole can of milk and tomato sauce. I used ginger powder instead of real ginger, because i didn't have any on hand. I couldn't find Garam masala at the loblaws, but theyhad spices called Indian masala, so i bought that instead. I also think i used more yougurt than was asked and maybe 5 times the amount of cayenne pepper. The results came out fine though. Kevin said he couldn't make out the difference from the jar kind we usually have. The recipe also didn't take as long as i expected. Dinner was on the table in 40 minutes. The sauce smelled and taste kind of yougut-ey at first, but once i added the chicken with the tandoori, it just worked out. One thing that bothered me was that the lemon juice caused the dairy product in the sauce to become grainy (curdle). But it did not change the taste.

Pineapple Chicken bites

Last weekend, Rachelle had a house party at the old apartment we used to share. I promised i'd help make some food for the party. The party was a tropical theme and she really wanted to have food that reflected the theme. So I looked up recipes online and chose to make Pineapple chicken. I also made Lemon bars (my second try, but this time with homemade crust), and coconut jello. The Lemon Bars were quite popular. I already received an email for the recipe. But this blog is about the chicken.

When I first made it, I tried to get Kevin's opinion on it. But he wouldn't eat it. He's afraid to try new things...either that or he's just afraid of my cooking. When he finally had it at the party, he said they were yummy and would ask me to make them again.

The original recipe is to make chicken skewers and cook them on the grill. But I just cooked them on the skillet.

• 1 cup pineapple juice
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup light soy sauce
• 2 pounds chicken cut in cubes or strips

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, mix pineapple juice, brown sugar, and soy sauce. Remove from heat just before the mixture comes to a boil. Let it cool.
2. Place chicken tenders in a medium bowl. Cover with the pineapple marinade, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
3. On the stovetop: remove chicken from the marinade and cook in the skillet. The sauce will thicken and caramelize on the chicken. If you wish, you maybe boil the sauce to serve on the side. I boiled it until it reduced to a thick sauce. On the Grill: Preheat grill for medium heat. Thread chicken lengthwise onto wooden skewers. Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill chicken tenders 5 minutes per side, or until juices run clear. They cook quickly, so watch them closely.

I decided I didn't have enough chicken, so I cut some more and did not marinade the second batch. The sauce coated it nicely, but the chicken wasn't as tender and tasty as the ones I marinaded overnight. I used the juice from a can of pineapple chunks. I will most likely try this recipe again and serve it on rice.